3.0l swap soon...

[1MadRanger]

I'm doing a direct swap of the 3.0 in the coming days... any suprised I should know about... hidden bolts, stubborn wires, etc?

It's a 96 so I'm assuming a 95-97 donor should be a direct swap...

If i go 98+ is there any additional hardware i need?

 

[adsm08]

Should be straight forward, the only easier swap would be a 4-banger.. Being a 2wd manual you may find it is less trouble to take the engine and trans out together, and bolt the trans back up to the new engine outside the vehicle.

 

[Curious Hound]

When replacing my clutch a few weeks ago, I needed to angle the rear of the engine down a bit to access the upper bell-housing bolts. But the distributer is really close to the firewall. So my recommendation is to remove the distributor cap and unplug the wiring harness first so you don't break it. Or just remove the whole distributor since you're replacing the engine anyway.

Also, if you're putting a 3.0l back in, remove the oil pressure switch from the back. Install an elbow and braided hose so you can mount the switch or a pressure sensor remotely where it can be accessed for repairs or testing. That switch is nearly impossible to work on in it's normal location. Also pull the wire for it out of the loom and re-route it to the new switch location. That's even more impossible to do with the engine installed.

 

[1MadRanger]

So it looks like I'm going to go with a 98... any additional things I need to make it work in a 96?